The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : “Strictly follow 69% quota in Plus-One courses”

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Wednesday, Apr 16, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

“Strictly follow 69% quota in Plus-One courses”

M. Gunasekaran

Those failing to follow rule to be derecognised
“Some schools in State not following the rule”

TIRUPUR: In an effort at increasing the number of Dalit students in professional courses, the Tamil Nadu government has asked all schools, including private institutions, to strictly follow the 69 per cent reservation for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Most Backward Classes and Backward Classes in every group during Plus-One admissions.

Schools failing to implement the reservation will be derecognised, the Director of School Education has warned. In a February 27 circular, the Director directed all chief educational officers to ensure compliance with the rule in 2008-09.

As for government schools, action would be taken against headmasters if they failed to follow it.

The Director pointed out that some schools in the State had not been following the reservation rule and were admitting students of their choice.

Thus, Dalit and Backward Class students had been deprived of quality education.

School Education Minister Thangam Thennarasu told The Hindu that the move would help Dalit students in getting their share of seats in Group I and II (mathematics, biology and science), giving them opportunities to enter medical and engineering colleges.

“We received complaints that many private matriculation schools and some other schools are not following the reservation rule. It is brought to our notice that Dalit students have been forced to join humanities groups such as history and economics and denied admission to science and mathematics groups. This is leading to a situation where Dalit students need to score more than Backward Class students to get admission to law colleges, while they get admission to medicine and engineering colleges with less cut-off marks than their Most Backward Class counterparts,” Mr. Thennarasu said.

Based on the complaint by Director of Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare, the Education Department Secretary had issued an order as early as in 1994 to ensure “adequate representation in vital courses” of higher secondary admissions. While stating that mere reservation of the total seats in Plus One courses will not be “wholly satisfactory,” and that Dalits and Backward Class students were denied seats in groups I and II, the secretary warned the authorities that any lapse in implementing group wise reservation would be viewed seriously.

Welcoming the initiative, Prof. Kalvimani, who took up the cause, said this would help more number of Dalit students get admission to professional colleges and science courses in coming years.

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